Chinese Weddings

Kevin + Denisse

Photographers: Grace & Ian
Location: Concorde Hotel, KL
Make Up & Hair: Kimmy

When I first met Denisse, she told me that she is a really simple person. They like to keep things simple, have a simple wedding and a simple dinner. And that made her one of the least stressed brides I have ever photographed. I think it must come from the fact that Denisse is from Miri, Sarawak. A lot of East Malaysians I know are super friendly and laidback!

And so, Denisse and Kevin had a simple wedding. But one that is full of good memories, laughter and friendship.

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Church Weddings, Weddings

Eric + Debbie’s Union

Photographers: Grace & Mark
Make Up & Hair: Angie Ng
Wedding Gown: That Special Occasion
Church Ceremony: Assumption Church, PJ
Dinner Reception: Concorde Hotel, KL

If you have seen enough of my images, you would know that I love colour. But at times, the absence of colour accentuates shape and texture even more. When I arrived at Debbie’s home that morning to capture shots of her getting ready, I was so taken in by the wallpaper in her room. Her dad put it up for her when she was young. A wallpaper filled with trains. Seems a little unusual for a little girl. :)

And now daddy’s little girl has grown up to be a beautiful bride.

While Debbie was getting ready, Belle her trusty dog kept her company. He even had a thing or two to say about ang pows. (you’ll see why later)

While I was at Debbie’s place, Mark was shooting at Eric’s home with his barely one month old Canon 5D Mark 2. :)

Back to Debbie’s gorgeous wall. :)

And of course, gorgeous Debbie herself.

I love this shot below taken by Mark.

Debbie’s home was decorated so wonderfully, in anticipation of Eric’s arrival!

When the guys came, they had to go through a few rounds of challenges (literally). The girls made them dance around a tree to music!

And then out came some Tanzanian currency. Debbie’s good friend Tariq volunteered 10,000 Tanzanian shilling, which I found out later is worth about RM23, or about 7 USD. I guess the girls were smarter and knew better than to take the money.

I love this yoga challenge. Proves how flexible the guys are in emulating these poses. How do you think they rate?

This is where Belle had her say about whether to let Eric in the room or not.

I guess Eric must already have favour in Belle’s eyes, cause he was approved! One of the cute things that Eric did was stop at Starbucks to buy Debbie coffee before he reached her home. He knew she needed her caffeine fix! How sweet is that!

At Assumption church, everything went on really smoothly and on time…

…and then there was a little drama when the flower girl decided to run down the aisle to her father instead of walk.

Debbie sharing a moment with her dad.

Wonderful emotions exchanged.

Dinner was held at Concorde Hotel in KL.

The entertainment that night was amazing! Peter Ong was the MC and singer! Beautiful duet that night.

Definitely a night filled with laughter. There were lots of great speeches and on top of that, Eric & Debbie were really surprised when their friends played a video made specially for them that night. It was completely unexpected!

Congratulations you two. Who would have thought, Debbie, that our first encounter at KOMAS years ago would have led to this friendship that we now have. And then bumping into you years later at Dave’s. I feel like I’ve journeyed together with the both of you this year and that you have made me feel so welcomed at all times. Wishing the both of you many many happy years of married bliss.

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Church Weddings, Indian + Punjabi Weddings, Malay Weddings, Outdoor Weddings, Weddings

The Ring Collection

Over the years, I have collected a series of ring shots from various weddings & engagements that I have shot. As with every wedding, each ring has a story to tell. At each wedding, I try to think of how to shoot the rings differently. I have a whole set of video shots of rings too, which I might share in the future. That is even more funky and creative because you get to play with motion! Hope you’ll enjoy this collection and do share which one is your personal favourite!

Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, Weddings

Wedding of Mak & Elsa

Photographers: Grace & Mark
5D Mark 2 Video: Alex & Shu Wan
Same Day Slideshow Editing: Shu Wan
Gown: Pretty in White
Make Up: Angie Ng
Dinner Reception: Jaya Palace Restaurant

Two days before their wedding, I spoke to Elsa, and she told me, “I am not sure whether we are going to have a tea ceremony in the evening or morning with my relatives… let’s play by ear and see what happens” That’s how laidback Mak & Elsa are when it came to planning their wedding. She told me that her friends fretted more than she did over the wedding! Despite all that fretting, things went well for Mak & Elsa, and their wedding day breezed along smoothly.

This was my first time at Balakong, and I am glad I didn’t get lost finding Elsa’s place! Thank God for google maps! But I think it is time for me to invest in a GPS.

Together with my team, we came up with this same day slideshow that was played that night at Jaya Palace Restaurant. Watch out for the cool ring shot thought up by Mark at the end of the slideshow!

[flv:http://www.stories.my/wp-content/uploads/2010/slideshows/makelsa.flv http://www.stories.my/wp-content/uploads/2010/slideshows/makelsa.jpg 700 394]

Here are some of my favourite shots from their wedding.

The lace on her gown is just exquisite!

For this shot, Mark had to hold a reflector next to me, not to reflect the light on Mak & Elsa, but to shade them from the sun!

This is kind of how the place looked like:

I didn’t know it when I took this teapot shot, but it seems that teapots were going to be the theme for the day!

Especially at Jaya Palace Restaurant, where they had large pillars filled with cool teapots like these! We were a little worried that we’d knock into these teapots as we squeezed between tables…

This restaurant had really really good food.

Thanks for being so welcoming and for taking care of my team, Mak & Elsa. Oh, and thanks for walking up and down the stairs a couple of times for us to get the ring shot, Elsa!! :)

Mark Leo In Chinese Weddings, Weddings

Eric & Chew Yong

Dinner Reception: Concorde Hotel, Kuala Lumpur
Photographers: Mark Leo & Ian Chew

I had a fantastic time shooting both Eric and Chew Yong’s wedding recently. The two of them met at work (gosh imagine that!) and now they are getting married. Throughout the day, there was never a dull moment as Eric’s friends were so sporting as well as enthusiastic in trying to help Eric get through some of the toughest challenges in the morning. Check out the photos below to see how tough they were.

The girls started the morning preparing all of their special “concoction” for the guys.

Meet Chew Yong, doesn’t she look beautiful here?

Eric and his “heng tais” before leaving for Chew Yong’s house. These guys are super dedicated!

One of the tasks, brush your teeth using wasabi as toothpaste! Talk about burning your mouth.

Brushing their teeth wasn’t enough, they even had wasabi put all over one of the “heng tai” where the rest of the guys had to lick it off.

Next task, bursting the balloon whilst eating a banana off the other guy. Seriously, the guys just did all of this without complaining and did it with gusto!

The guys even had a special shirt made for the wedding.

After leaving Chew Yong’s place, we headed over to their new home for a couple more shots.

I love the wallpapers in their new place, it looks so classy and elegant. They really have an eye for interior designing.

A big thanks goes to Ian Chew who helped me with the wedding throughout the day.

Watch the same day slideshow by clicking on the link below.

[flv:http://www.stories.my/wp-content/uploads/2010/slideshows/ericchewyong.flv http://www.stories.my/wp-content/uploads/2010/slideshows/ericchewyong.jpg 700 394]